Delivery of a pill has traditionally been accomplished by simply removing the safety-locking caps and tilting the container, leading to the uncontrolled dispensing of a large number of pills, exceeding the dosage required by the user. Often this leads to the spillage of pills, and the tedious task of recovering the pills from the floor, counter, or countless other locations the pills have fallen and placing them back within the container.
In addition to the user manually unlocking the top and retrieving the medication, often the user may fail to adequately secure the cap, leading to more than a simple annoyance, but ultimately a health hazard for young loved ones and pets. This also leads to inadvertent spillage of pills in one's purse or traveling bag, resulting in lost pills, or worse, ingestion by some 67,000 children who visit an emergency room, because of spilled pill ingestion. In fact, this happens once every eight minutes.
A number of past devices have attempted to provide a method for 1) controlling the dosage of pills, and 2) additional child and pet safety. Often such devices involve complex chambers or limit the size or type of pill that can be dispensed. Other methods attempt to accomplish this task by limiting the number of pills to a single dose, but this method lacks the flexibility and functionality that allows the user to manually adjust the flow of the pills, while maintaining the added protection needed to prevent spillage and ultimately ingestion by an unintended user.
The Spill Guard Select Disperser provides an inexpensive, versatile insert that allows the manufacturer to include several options for the controlled delivery of the pill, while also serving as an additional safety mechanism to prevent the unintended spillage of pills. This insert is then placed inside of the standard circular opening of a pill container that one receives from a pharmacy, or for over the counter medications, such as your standard Advil or Tylenol bottle at a height desired by the user. Once placed inside of the chosen container, the insert's unique design prevents removal by young children and pets.
Further, as a result of its simple installation, the user may individually purchase the insert in various sizes to insert in an array of pill containers that include a circular opening.
Although prior art contains control and safety mechanisms, it lacks the ability to provide additional measures to protect small children and pets if the medication bottle is open.
In addition, prior art lacks the capability to provide the controlled dispensing insert in a form that is compatible with a number of containers without changing any characteristics of existing containers.
Moreover, the Spill Guard Select Dispenser again goes beyond prior art, providing a locking mechanism that requires manual depressing of the tab to freely rotate the dialer or alignment plate. This embodiment consists of a vertical member affixed to the base member. This vertical member sits parallel to the axis of rotation of the dialer or alignment plate, allowing the vertical member to shift into an opening on the dialer or alignment plate to create a “lock,” preventing any rotation by the dialer.
Finally, the Spill Guard Select Dispenser goes beyond the prior art by providing an additional locking mechanism in the form of a spring tension lock.